Jacksonville resident Parvez Ahmed has resigned as chairman of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, saying he's frustrated about the national organization's failure to be more proactive and positive in its promotion of Muslim civil rights.
The nation's most well-known Muslim advocacy group, which he has led as board chairman since 2005, also needs to be more inclusive of younger, less-religious Muslims and encourage regular turnover of leadership ranks to ensure an infusion of new ideas, he told the Times-Union on Monday, a day after resigning.
These and other goals have been agreed to in principle by the organization's board and professional leadership, Ahmed said, but "an old guard mentality" among some of those leaders has kept elements of the strategic plan from being realized.
They could start by advocating for Muslims in cases where they don't fit the current CAIR-approved mold- the non-hijabi who wants to take Eid off, the gay Muslims who have homophobic and Islamophobic slurs hurled at them, etc.
But that would be like asking a room full of kindergarten children to do advanced calculus! ;-)
"Our integrity sells for so little, but it is all we really have. It is the very last inch of us. But within that inch we are free."
--Valerie, in V for Vendetta
As-Salaamu `Ala Filasteen wa Rahmatullah
My money's on the kindergartners. I wonder, if an organization were to develop that advocated for all Muslims, and not just the MAS & CAIR approved ones, would it change MAS and CAIR's tunes?